Alas, Camilla! Vergil, Aeneid

 vellem haud correpta fuisset

militia tali conata lacessere Teucros:               585

cara mihi comitumque foret nunc una mearum.

verum age, quandoquidem fatis urgetur acerbis,

labere, nympha, polo finisque invise Latinos,

tristis ubi infausto committitur omine pugna.

haec cape et ultricem pharetra deprome sagittam:               590

hac, quicumque sacrum violarit vulnere corpus,

Tros Italusque, mihi pariter det sanguine poenas.

post ego nube cava miserandae corpus et arma

inspoliata feram tumulo patriaeque reponam.'

dixit, at illa levis caeli delapsa per auras               595

insonuit nigro circumdata turbine corpus.

 --Vergil, Aeneid 11.584--596

"I wish [Camilla] weren’t swept up in this attempt to tackle the Trojans:

She is dear to me and, of all my companions, she’d be my only [dear].

Since she is compelled by cruel fate, go on, then, nymph, 

Slip down unnoticed to Earth, go to where the doomed Latins are fighting.

Take this quiver and grab an avenging arrow

And with it strike down whoever harms the blessed body of Camilla,  

Whether they are Trojan or Italian, they’ll pay the penalty with their blood.

Afterwards, I will keep her body from being stripped of armor,

And I will carry her back to her homeland for burial.”

Diana spoke, and [Opis] gracefully soared through the breeze

Cloaking her body in a dark whirlwind.

VERGIL / VIRGIL	MAP:
Name:  Publius Vergilius Maro Date:  70 BCE – 21 BCE Works:  Aeneid*               Eclogues              Georgics	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Vergil was born in Mantua (Cisalpine Gaul, located in northern Italy) and lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy. His masterpiece, the Aeneid, tells the story of Aeneas’ migration from Troy to Italy; it was used for centuries as the pinnacle of Roman literature.	GOLDEN AGE ROME